Christmas Wish
by Ember Mage
Summary: While Lucia waits for Kaito to arrive, many guests arrive at her Christmas party.


**Disclaimer: Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure** belongs to Hanamori Pinku and Yokote Michiko.  
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REALLY LONG CHRISTMAS FIC. BLEHHHHHHHH. It has Kaito x Lucia, Nagisa x Hanon, Hamasaki x Rina, and Hippo x Yuuri. The BBS were thrown in here somewhere because I thought that since I put the Dark Lovers in here Ekuri would be complaining about how I didn't add the BBS. ; Oh, well, here you go!  
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**Christmas Wish  
By Ming Yi**  
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Her hand was fixed on the window; her breath formed frosty circles on the glass. But patiently, she waited for him to come.

He had promised to come over for Christmas.

"What can I get you for Christmas?" he had asked before, his hot-red eyes glittering softly.

She smiled and shook her head. "Anything you get me, I'll love it. But I already have what I wanted for Christmas..."

One hand delicately plucked against the pink seashell locket clutched gently around her throat, and the other remained still, plastered on the glass. Many busy cars skittered across the icy road, bypassing Hotel Pearl Piari, but there was still no sign of him.

Hamasaki and Nagisa were already at the hotel. Hanon had put a small sprig of mistletoe on Nagisa's baseball cap, and they used that as an excuse to steal kisses from each other every once in a while. It was sweet and a little bit cute for the first twenty kisses, but now Lucia groaned whenever Hanon (or Nagisa) caught each other for yet another make-out session. Pretty disgusting after an hour.

Hamasaki and Rina were seated at a table for two far away in the cafe, talking about government issues over a cup of tea. As much as watching Hanon and Nagisa steal kisses every 10 seconds, talking about politics made Lucia sick also.

"Mou! Na-gi-saaa!" pouted Hanon from afar. The two were now leaping over chairs and tables, chasing each other. From the reflection of the window, Lucia saw a blur of aquamarine blue and navy blue race down the hallways, toppling over some furniture along the way.

Thump, thump. Screams and giggles. Lucia smiled faintly in amusement. She would have join the wild goose chase if she hadn't been so worried about Kaito. As the two whizzed out of the kitchen, Nikora screeched,"Heyyyy!! No running in the hotel! You almost ruined the cake!!"

Lucia figured that Nagisa and Hanon ran past Nikora, almost making her lose her balance and destroying her cake. The cake was Nikora's "new masterpiece", as it would serve as dessert after dinner. If the two had managed to ruin it, boy, were they in a lot of trouble.

"Cake! Are you done with the cake?" cried a chipper voice, jumping into the scene.

The disgruntled voice of Nikora replied,"Nope. Sorry, Seira. You'll have to wait until dinner."

"Awww, come on! It's _cake_!" whined the orange princess.

"_Seira_,"muttered Nikora sternly, obviously in a stressed mood. The pink pearl princess couldn't blame her "older sister" for being so grumpy right now. She had to do most of the cooking, cleaning, and preparations for the Christmas dinner.

Within a few minutes, she relaxed and her foul mood was gone. "Why don't you wait with Lucia?" she suggested calmly.

"Sure,"replied Seira, albeit defeated from the cake war.

The little girl was struck with eagerness and excitement for the Christmas party (but mostly for the cake), and she giddily skipped over to Lucia's side. Lucia still had her attention fixed on the window, her finger idly tracing a small heart against its panels. The sky was getting darker and darker; its aquamarine hue merging into a soft deep blue color.

"Lucia,"said Seira happily, skidding to a stop by her friend. Discovering Lucia's uneasiness, her expression changed.

"Wht's wrong, Lucia? You've been staring at that window for a long time now."

"Huh?" Lucia broke away from the window, and shook her head in an attempt to hide her feelings. "Oh, no, no, Seira. I'm just waiting for the guests to arrive."

_Ding-dong._

"And here they are!" yipped Seira, leaping over to the front door, waving furiously for the blonde to come over.

"Come on, Lucia! It might be that orange guy you hang around with!"

With a glimmer of hope, Lucia walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hello! Hope we're not too late!" a voice sang out. A flash of yellow, deep blue, and purple unfurled itself into the hotel.

"Hi, Caren, Coco, Noel,"greeted Lucia brightly, managing to hide her disappointment. Maybe Kaito wasn't here, but at least more friends were walking in. She shut the door as the trio marched inside.

"Brrrr,"shivered Coco, breathing onto her gloved hands. "It's _so_ cold out here."

"Really?" asked Caren, peeling off her brown trenchcoat. "I didn't really think it was _that_ cold."

"I've never spent my life in the Northern and Southern poles, okay?" cried Coco, refusing to remove her yellow jacket. She was still hunched in her bundled outfit, waddling into the warm room.

Noel patted her blonde comrade softly, hanging up her white overcoat onto the wooden coathanger by the door. "Then you should visit us more often."

The thought of this sent more shivers up Coco's spine. "Eh... I'll pass."

The next thing Lucia knew, Rina and Hamasaki were already at the front door. The emerald-eyed girl smiled warmly at the guests, and greeted them with a soft,"Hello."

"_Rina_!" Immediately the tall girl was bombarded with hugs from the twins. "How are you?!"

"I'm.... fine?" murmured a dizzy Rina. Hamasaki chuckled softly at the scene.

Lucia helped her friend up with little snickers here and there, and Rina ran a hand through her long, pin-straight hair.

"So, would you guys like to drink something?"

"That'd be wise!" Coco blurted out, rushing to take a seat in the cafe. With a nod, Rina disappeared into the kitchen with Hamasaki before Lucia could offer to bring the drinks.

Finally, Nagisa and Hanon burst out into the main hall, panting from the excercise they were put through. Lucia saw that Nagisa's mistletoe-sprinkled baseball cap was missing from his hair.

"Look, there's Hanon!" Noel spoke up, waving her arm back and forth. "Hi, Hanon!"

The aquamarine pearl princess rippled her fingers in a small wave at them, out of breath.

"Ohhh! The cute boy's here too!" Caren gasped, clasping her hands together in a fangirlish way. Hanon plastered a slight frown on her face and Nagisa had an "Uh, oh" expression written clearly all over his own.

In a flash, he spun around, dragging Hanon behind him, yelling,"Come on, Hanon-san! Let's get out of here!"

Coco forgot about how cold she was and leaped after him, chasing the young couple with Caren and Noel.

"_WAAAAIT_! Just one _huuuuuuuuug_!!"

Seira jumped around from the excitement, following the mermaid trio to witness the action. Rina and Hamasaki came out of the kitchen, but no Caren, Noel, and Coco in sight. Lucia broke out in merry laughter, enjoying how humorous her friends could be when they least expected it.

"Hey, where'd they go?" asked Hamasaki.

"_KYAAAAAAAAA_!!"

With a smirk, Rina set her waitress' platter down. "They're coming."

Nagisa and Hanon pushed through the kitchen, knocking into Rina's boyfriend. Hamasaki crashed into Rina, who collapsed over the three mugs. The hot drinks spilled all over the front of Rina's sea-green sweater and Lucia's lap.

"Sorry!" the two managed to call out before disappearing down the hallways again.

"_NOOOOOOOOOOO_!!"

Thump, thump, crash. The secondary mermaid trio burst out of the doors, and Noel slid her stocking-clad feet across the polished floor. Within a few seconds, Caren accidentally bumped into her and she crashed onto the clean tiles.

Seira was on the floor laughing her head off. By now, Coco had ditched her parka (which was now lying inactively on the kitchen tiles) and continued from where she had left off.

"_IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN_!!" cried Lucia in surprise, peeling her maroon skirt away from her legs to avoid the searing pain of the hot chocolate. She was up on her feet, doing a slight prance.

"I said, _NO RUNNING_!" Nikora yelled above the volume, sticking her head out of the kitchen doorway.

"Lucia, are you all right?" asked Rina frantically, grabbing a washcloth on a nearby counter. She tried to scrub out the stain, but it was no use.

"Yeah, I'm all right,"replied Lucia, halting her panicking. "We should go change, ne, Rina?"

Rina shrugged. "Sure." She turned to Hamasaki. "You keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

Lucia dashed up the stairs with Rina following her, dodging body blocks thrown by Caren. Below, she could hear Caren order,"You go that way, Noel! I'll go this way!!"

Sighing softly, Lucia made it into her room, changing out of her hot chocolate-soaked skirt into a knee-length black skirt. The maroon one had been her favorite, and she only wore that one on special occassions. Well, accidents happen. She picked up the article of clothing and went into the bathroom to try to wash out the stain again, but it was useless. The washing machine would have to do. With a forlorn groan, she hopelessly dropped the skirt into the nearby laundry hamper.

"Ah, _there_ you are, Lucia!"

Lucia saw Rina, now in a turtleneck of a beautiful lime-green shade, with her green jacket. Lucia was surprised that the jacket didn't get stained from the hot chocolate attack.

"Rina! Let's go downstairs now!"

The two headed downstairs, only to find out that the fight had gotten worse. For Hippo, that is. The poor blue penguin had been trampled a bajillion of times, and footprints covered his no longer sickly-clean sailor uniform.

"Lucia-sama..." he whimpered, leaping behind the girl's legs. "Oh, it was horrible! Tell them to _stop_!"

"Hippo, go hide in my room if you're really that scared,"said Lucia, calmly walking away back into the cafe. As soon as Lucia and Rina entered the room, Rina and Hamasaki continued where they had left off and went on a long walk outside of the hotel, exiting from the patio. Lucia smiled at her friend's good fortune, but she only wished that Kaito were here.

_Kaito_...

That was right. With all the commotion building in the hotel, Lucia had nearly forgotten about him. Anxiety crawled up to the bottom of her stomach again, and curled out.

_Kaito, where are you? Please come back...._

Hippo tumbled into a chair and fell over. The noise snapped Lucia out of her thought bubble and she rushed over to help her penguin- no, now _human_ guardian.

"Hippo! You're human again!"

"I know,"moaned Hippo sourly. "When they-"

_Ding-dong_.

The chime of the doorbell cut off Hippo's little explanation. Lucia's heart raced. Could it be Kaito? She dropped Hippo and ran to the door. The five were still at it, and Lucia almost ran into Hanon when answering the door. Swinging it open, she said,"Hi!"

A little girl stood at the doorstep, all bundled up in a large black coat, shivering from the freezing wind. She looked very frail, and immediately Lucia took pity for this girl. She had to be courteous to all the guests, and even if it wasn't Kaito, she would help. Christmas spirit must have reached her fully.

"How may I help you?"

The little girl spoke, her voice so familiar it frightened Lucia. "Thank you, but you don't need to help me."

The girl gently lowered her hood. Lucia gasped upon viewing the little girl's face and almost fainted.

"Lucia-san!" whined Hippo, hobbling into the room, clutching his hurt arm. He stuttered when his eyes met the girl.

"_Y-Yuuri-san_?" cried Lucia and Hippo at the same time, except Lucia didn't add the suffix at the end.

The girl smiled nervously, slowly walking over to Hippo. Hippo's lawn-green eyes widened, and gently, he touched her icy cheek to see if she was not an illusion. "Is that... really _you_, Yuuri-san?"

Yuuri nodded, lightly placing her hand over Hippo's, pressing it to her face. Lucia grinned. They kind of resembled smaller versions of herself and Kaito. Even though she had questions of how Yuuri got here, she was sure that Hippo had even more.

"You must be cold, Yuuri-san! Let me get you something." Already Hippo had forgotten about his bodily damage caused by the frolicking five, and he pulled Yuuri upstairs, looking for a blanket or a towel.

After the duo had gone upstairs, Lucia leaned against the front door, returning to the place where she had been before Coco and the twins came. She daintily pushed aside the white curtain embracing the side windows, and sighed.

_Ding-dong_.

Who was it now? Many of the guests had already arrived, and some surprise guests had even dropped by. Lucia thought it could be Mikaru, but she and her brother were away at some fancy party. Still, they could be here. Maybe Kaito was with them. Lucia flung the door open, revealing the rest of the Dark Lovers: Izuuru, Eriru, and Maria.

"Hello, Lucia!" Izuuru chimed in, with the girls echoing their hellos behind her. In Maria's arms, the ice maiden held a large carton of vanilla ice cream (which Maria obviously selected).

"Wow! This is so unexpected!" said Lucia with a bright grin. "Please come on in!"

"I'm _freezing_!" whined Eriru, rubbing up and down on her arms to create friction. Her upper arms were red from the rubbing, and were too numb to get warm from the friction inflicted upon them.

Maria was only dressed in her usual attire, which was a long, silvery gown. "Really.... it's not that cold."

"Spin around to keep yourself warm,"suggested Izuuru, walking inside with her purple train trailing behind her. When Lucia least expected it, the danger of the five escapades literally swooshed by them, knocking Izuuru off her feet.

"Sorry!" called Nagisa and Hanon again.

"Hey!" yelled Izuuru, dusting her dress off. "You wanna take that outside?!"

"Great idea!" Lucia heard Nagisa say between gasps.

"That's _not_ what I had in mind,"huffed the shark sourly.

Rina and Hamasaki were back from their walk, and escorted the trio to a nice table in the cafe. To her amazement at the different people appearing at the party, Lucia felt more relaxed, even if they used to be her enemies. But still, one piece of the jigsaw puzzle was missing.

_Ding-dong_.

It _had_ to be Kaito. Who else could it be? Lucia opened the large door again, but only saw a couple of lost-looking women, and Lucia assumed that they were related. For some reason, Lucia thought that she had seen them before, but shook the thoughts out of her mind.

"Hi,"greeted the younger one shyly, her bespectacled eyes the color of golden brown. "We're looking for a place to stay. Our car broke down, you see. The evil spell of the cold weather has seemed to affect our trip."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Lucia gasped, feeling slightly sorry about their misfortune. The two sisters seemed to take it the wrong way, thinking that Lucia was about to apologize for the lack of vacant rooms in the hotel.

"Oh, that's okay,"the steel gray-haired girl said, waving her hand. "We'll find a place at-"

"What?" Lucia was dumbfounded, but then quickly figured out what was going on. "Oh, no, of course there are rooms here! Please check in with Taki-san at the front desk in the main hall."

"Thank you,"said the older one, walking in with her red ponytail swishing behind her. "Can we use your phone, too? We're going to have a tow truck to tow away the car."

"Sure! Feel free to make yourselves at home, and please stay for our Christmas dinner!"

"Thank you!" said the younger one, bowing. "You're too kind." She waltzed off into the lobby, following her older sister.

While the red-haired girl was filling out all the paperwork, the younger one explored her surroundings, staring at every painting that the walls held. The tune that she was humming seemed eerily familiar....

The blue-haired girl started mumbling the lyrics. "The heart-stealing baroque embraces a wave of negative energy....."

A lightbulb clicked in Lucia's mind. "_Sheshe_? _Mimi_?"

The sisters looked confused. "I beg your pardon?" questioned the older woman, raising an eyebrow.

Lucia sighed. "Never mind."

So they weren't the Black Beauty Sisters that Lucia and her mermaid buddies had to face before. But they really resembled them a lot by their natural ways and facial features. Especially with that song the girl was humming.

"Dinner's up!" yelled Nikora, and the whole crowd scrambled into the cafe. Hanon and Nagisa ran in, their faces red from the cold breeze, followed by Coco and the twins, who were panting like mad, their faces dribbled in sweat.

"_W-wait_..." moaned Noel, but they all collapsed on top of each other by the time they reached their table.

Seira slipped into the fourth seat of the mermaid trio's table. The Dark Lovers were gathered at one table, but the only member of the quadruple was sitting alone with Hippo, holding hands and talking to each other as if they were the only people in the world that existed. The newcomers clip-clopped in the room and took a seat near the couple, palavering about what they were going to do about their car. Not many people came to the party; mainly because they were having Christmas dinner with their own families.

Kaito _still_ wasn't there. Lucia was beginning to get worried. As she, Hanon, Rina, Seira (who volunteered), Coco, Caren, and Noel (the trio volunteered also, but Nikora secretly hoped that they wouldn't screw this up) passed around dishes with their courses on it with red napkins, the people gave their thanks and began to tuck into the victuals.

Maybe Mikaru invited him to come to the dinner party that she and her brother would be going to. That would explain his overdue absence. But such wouldn't happen. Kaito didn't seem like the type to like fancy parties with filthy rich people discussing about world issues. He might have gone, but if he did he should have been back already because Mikaru and Rihito would promise a safe ride from a slick limo. Hours passed by, and Lucia kept having horrible visions of Kaito in her mind. Perhaps he got hit by a car, mugged, or even shot! Anything could happen to a young teenaged boy out in the frozen streets on a Christmas holiday.

"Lucia. Lucia!"

"Eh?" Lucia looked up. Seira, Rina, and Hanon were staring at her, concerned about her behavior. Lucia looked down at her victuals and discovered that she had barely eaten a bite out of her dinner.

Hanon and Rina understood. The aquamarine pearl princess, jabbed Lucia's side with her elbow (which did hurt) with a cheerful,"Kaito-kun will show up in any minute. I swear he will, or my name isn't Houshou Hanon!"

"Does that mean when he doesn't come we get to call you something else?" Seira piped up, shoveling a mouthful of rice into her mouth.

"_If_, not _when_,"corrected Rina.

_Ding-dong_.

What amazed the girls was that Caren, Noel, and Coco had regained every ounce of their energy back. They sprang out of their seats, trumpeting,"_We'll go get it_!"

"No, I'm getting it!" scoffed Caren, pushing her sister and the yellow pearl princess aside.

"No, me!" retorted Noel, tackling Caren like a professional football player.

"No, _me_!" echoed Coco, leaping over the twins' sprawled bodies. She tripped over Noel's ankle and fell over on top of them.

"Oh, lord,"moaned Rina in disgust, heading for the front door. In mid-step, she stopped herself and turned back.

"Lucia, why don't _you_ answer it?" she suggested with a pursed smile.

The dishwater blonde anticipated the moment, but was confused. She felt stupid for feeling like that, but she said,"_Me_? Why not you?"

"Go on, Lucia,"coaxed Hanon with a wink. (_She winks too much_, thought Lucia.) "I'm sure that something _amazing_ is behind that door! Go for it!" She jabbed Lucia in the rib again with her sharp elbow.

"_Ow_! H-hanon!" hissed Lucia, rubbing her rib cage carefully. She stood up and left the eating hall, once again about to answer the door. She was careful to avoid the semi-conscious troublemakers, and pressed her eye to the peephole.

No one.

It could be mail. Lucia opened the door and-

"Lucia."

"_Kaito_!" gasped Lucia, leaping to embrace her boyfriend.

After a few minutes, their embrace was loosened. "Where _were_ you?" cried Lucia, her eyes becoming moisty.

"I'm sorry,"apologized Kaito, ruffling Lucia's neatly-arranged hair. "I didn't know it was a crime to get you a present."

"Kaito, you've already gotten me something,"said Lucia soothingly, ignoring the small box poking out of his pocket.

"I have?"

Lucia hugged him tightly. "Yes. What I really wanted for Christmas was you."

**el fin**


End file.
